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British Prime Minister Theresa May called on global leaders at the G7 conference in Sicily to force internet and social media companies stop the spread of terrorist content available online. "Make no mistake: the fight is moving from the battlefield to the internet," she said in a statement. May called on companies to develop tools to automatically identify and remove extremist materials, block the users who post it and report such activity to the authorities. The Prime Minister also announced the creation of an international forum to encourage industry leaders to share information and technologies to curb the spread of terrorist content. In addition, May proposed that regional governments cooperate by returning and prosecuting foreign fighters via improved "intelligence-sharing, evidence gathering and bolstering countries' police and legal processes. The Guardian's Anushka Asthana reported on Twitter that May's initiatives have the backing of President Trump, as well.

Coal power has been a fixture of British culture ever since the country's first plant went live in 1882. It shaped the Industrial Revolution (and the air pollution that followed), was involved in major labor disputes and even led to a famous album cover. However, the country is now backing away from coal -- and it just achieved an important milestone in weaning itself off of this dirty energy source. The National Grid has confirmed that, on April 21st, Britain went without coal-generated power for its first full day in 135 years. There had been relatively long stretches in recent times (19 hours in May 2016, for instance), but none as long as this.

Uber's operations in London have been dealt a fresh blow after the High Court ruled that it, and other private hire companies in the city, must force drivers to pass an English language test. The ride-hailing provider was attempting to overturn strict new rules proposed by Transport for London (TfL) last year that included reading and writing tests for drivers, better customer support and private-hire insurance for period when drivers weren't even working.

One of EE's biggest challenges is connecting rural customers. The UK network's 4G coverage is slowly improving, but there are still countless subscribers stuck in so-called "notspots." To help, EE is working on drones, balloons and trucks that can provide temporary access in a pinch. They'll never replace a traditional base station, but in the case of an emergency -- a flood or severe power outage, for instance -- they could offer a crucial line to the rest of the world. In the future, these "air masts" could also provide ongoing internet access, similar to Alphabet's Project Loon, while EE wrestles for planning permission to build new, permanent network hubs.

A record 50 percent of the UK's electricity was generated from renewables and other low carbon energy sources in the third quarter of 2016. That's up from 45.3 percent the year prior, a milestone fuelled by a sizeable increase in wind, solar and nuclear energy. A neat quarter came from renewables, including hydroelectric, while the other 25 percent was sourced from nuclear reactors. According to the UK government, the growth in green energy can be attributed, at least in part, to "improved weather conditions" across the UK, including higher wind speeds, increased rainfall and longer stretches of sunlight (though I don't remember that last one happening).

Did you know that the Sony hack, amongst other things, caused scores of British children to hear some salty language on TV? That's what the UK's telecommunications authority believes after the company showed the adults-only version of a classic film in the early afternoon. Sony-owned channel Movie Mix showed the Paul Newman courtroom drama The Verdict on December 14th, and in one scene, characters drop f-bombs as if they were candy wrappers. The excuse for such flagrant sweariness was that when Sony's servers were hacked, a nefarious type had "erased" the safe-for-daytime-viewing version of the flick, with the unedited version taking its place.

It's taken a while, but the UK is now primarily cashless. No, it's not all-digital, but for the first time, consumers and businesses are making more payments with cards, smartphones and online banking than standard notes and coins. That's according to the Payments Council, which found that 52 percent were completed without physical currency, with debit cards accounting for almost a quarter (24 percent) of all payments.

If someone asks you about UK weather, you can probably say "lousy" with about 75 percent accuracy. But the UK's national weather service, the Met Office, needs a bit more precision than that, so it just purchased a £97 million ($156 million) Cray XC40 supercomputer. With 480,000 CPUs, the 140 tonne (154 ton) machine will run about 13 times faster than its current IBM system. It'll also let the Met provide updates every hour, three times more often than it can now. All that speed will enable forecasts down to a resolution of 1.5km (1 mile), giving UK denizens the weather down to a specific London borough, for instance. It should also provide much better flood and wind warnings, along with more accurate fog, ice and snow reports for airports.

Earlier this month, Britain's Advertising Standards Authority barred EA from advertising its mobile game Dungeon Keeper as "free-to-play." Why? Because Dungeon Keeper has a countdown timer that blocks progress in the game, a timer that can be bypassed with money. "From the information available in the ad, players would expect the gameplay progression and their ability to advance to be unhindered by unexpected and excessively onerous delays," wrote ASA, "and we therefore considered that the length and frequency of these countdown events was beyond that which would be reasonably expected by players. [...] While we understood that the average consumer would appreciate that free-to-play games were likely to contain monetization functions, we considered that they would also expect the play experience of a game described as 'free' to not be excessively restricted."

Welcome, ASA, to the MMO community's endless debate over what constitutes free-to-play! This "free-to-wait" game mechanic is nothing new to us; it pervades mobile titles as well as many MMORTS titles and indie MMOs (Glitch and Villagers and Heroes come to mind). As a gamer, I find the mechanic not so much exploitative as obnoxious, and I'd rather not see it spread. But I spy a slippery slope here. Do you think the ASA is right? Are MMOs with this mechanic (or similar mechanics) misleading consumers? Which F2P games could be legitimately F2P under the ASA's understanding of the term?

Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!

Colin Pillinger, one of Britain's most famous space scientists, has died at the age of 70 from a brain hemorrhage. Professor Pillinger was the very definition of a plucky Brit, whose force of personality and optimism enabled him to oversee construction of the Beagle-2 Mars probe. Despite overwhelming odds, the academic convinced the European Space Agency to convey the device on the back of one of its rockets. Unfortunately, contact was never made with the probe, and it is believed to have crashed trying to land on the Red planet. Despite this, Pillinger was able to raise the profile of the British space program and bring together the nation's various industrial and technical communities.

GFK Chart-Track, the company responsible for the weekly UK sales charts, stated this afternoon that Grand Theft Auto 5 is "officially UK's biggest ever video game launch." The game sold 1.57 million copies on its first day, with estimated sales of £65 million ($103.8 million).

Saints Row 4 knows how to make the party last in the UK, holding the top spot on the charts for a month now. Only one new release broke the top ten last week, Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix, debuting in the number two spot.

We won't even discuss what Farming Simulator 2013 is doing at number 23, while Puppeteer debuts at 40.

And, just beyond the horizon, we see Grand Theft Auto 5 driving up, ready to thank Saints Row 4 for keeping its throne warm. Don't worry, Saints Row 4, Call of Duty: Ghosts will be extending the same courtesy to GTA 5 come November 5.

We were pleasantly surprised by the latest version of the Nexus 7, which landed in the US at the end of July. A little more patience has been required of Nexus fans on the other side of the pond, however, but the wait will soon be coming to an end. According to Pocket-Lint, ASUS has confirmed that the device will launch at midnight on August 28th, and will offer an asking price of £199.99 for the 16GB WiFi model and £239.99 for the 32GB WiFi-only version. There's no word on an LTE unit hitting British shores, but we'll keep you posted if we hear more.

Update: ASUS reps have confirmed to us that the Nexus 7 will indeed be available on August 28th for the prices quoted above.

UK retailer Asda will no longer stock the Wii U, its games or accessories across its 555 locations. CVG received a follow-up statement from Asda that the retailer will continue to sell Wii U games through its online portal on a case-by-case basis.

Asda had been at the forefront of price cuts to move the console out (of its stores, apparently). The company had committed two price cuts to the console during the first half of the year.

Nintendo could really use some good Wii U news soon. The Asda departure comes after publishers have begun publicly addressing the lack of Wii U sales, which have forced them to delay one-time exclusives (Ubisoft), to get them on multiple consoles (Square Enix) or make rational business decisions (EA) – but there are always bizarre exceptions.
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asdabritainnintendoukwii-uMon, 29 Jul 2013 13:30:00 -040011|20679862https://www.joystiq.com/2013/06/21/uk-games-industry-still-waiting-on-promised-tax-breaks/https://www.joystiq.com/2013/06/21/uk-games-industry-still-waiting-on-promised-tax-breaks/https://www.joystiq.com/2013/06/21/uk-games-industry-still-waiting-on-promised-tax-breaks/#comments

UK games industry trade association TIGA has urged the European Commission to deliver promised tax relief for local game developers after failing to meet a proposed implementation date.

The UK government planned to issue a total of £50 million in tax breaks for UK developers, starting in April of this year and extending through 2015. The proposed Games Tax Relief (GTR) plan offered 25 percent tax relief on 80 percent of a qualifying game's budget, and required passing a "cultural test" for consideration.

Trade publication MCV has quotes from two different retail buyers, the first noting the natural sales bump has "resulted in a smaller than desired increase" and the other saying the thing Nintendo really doesn't want to hear: "They've got to do something otherwise it is GameCube all over again."

For its part, Nintendo Europe says it is reaching out to retailers directly over the next few weeks to highlight the "strong and broad line-up of software launching this year." Console price reductions are more flexible in the UK than they are in the States.

Meanwhile, TechRadar mentions Wii Mini sales aren't doing much better in the UK. The site reports demand for the unit has been exceptionally poor. The Wii Mini sold 37.5K units in Canadian market, which Nintendo was pleased about.
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britainnintendoretailukwiiwii-uMon, 25 Mar 2013 18:30:00 -040011|20516510https://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/20/uk-games-industry-showing-slight-signs-of-recovery/https://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/20/uk-games-industry-showing-slight-signs-of-recovery/https://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/20/uk-games-industry-showing-slight-signs-of-recovery/#comments

UK trade association TIGA published a report this week, claiming that employment in UK games development grew by four percent in 2012.

Looking deeper at the numbers shows us UK studios aren't making the huge games they used to, however, and are evolving into smaller studios supporting more mobile and tablet development.

According to TIGA, from 2011 to 2012, creative staff across the UK grew from 8,888 to 9,224, which is where the modest four percent increase cited earlier comes from. The number of studios in the UK increased from 329 to 448 – that's 119 new studios and only 336 new jobs. The UK has shifted to smaller studios after years of layoffs and closures.

"Mobile and internet based gaming provide opportunities for growth; we have access to a highly skilled and creative workforce; and TIGA's Games Tax Relief will give a further boost to employment and investment from April 2013," said TIGA Chairman and Rebellion CEO Jason Kingsley.

TIGA estimates the sector's contribution to UK gross domestic product increased from £912 million to £947 million in 2012. The UK finally passed tax relief for the ailing sector last year, having proven it passed the cultural test.

Vodafone's British division has been shy to embrace Windows Phone much at all in recent months. There'll be no such reservation as of February 6th, when the carrier starts offering a wide array of Windows Phone 8 devices. HTC's Windows Phone 8X and 8S will ship in subdued colors, while the (partly expected) Lumia 620, 820 and 920 will be available in livelier hues. We've yet to hear about pricing -- and there's no mention of Samsung's ATIV S, for completists -- but the launch remains good news for UK residents who want to try Microsoft's approach to smartphones without leaving the Red Dot network.

Despite it being a relatively quiet January - Ni No Kuni doesn't arrive in Europe until February 1 - DmC: Devil May Cry wasn't able to retain top spot this week. Ninja Theory's reboot fell from grace to No. 4 after a 64 percent drop in sales. Meanwhile, Assassin's Creed 3 went on a climb up to No. 5, ascending on the back of promotional discounts.

Otherwise it's the same ten games doing the limbo, lazily relaxing backs and limply looking over shoulders as they wait for the big hitters of February and March to take to the dance floor. You can boogie on past the break for the UK top ten.
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britaincall-of-duty-black-ops-2chart-trackchart-track-weeklydmc-devil-may-crygreat-britainmicrosoftnintendopcplaystationps3ukwii-uxboxMon, 28 Jan 2013 08:00:00 -050011|20440224https://www.joystiq.com/2013/01/07/fifa-13-storms-back-up-to-first-on-uk-charts/https://www.joystiq.com/2013/01/07/fifa-13-storms-back-up-to-first-on-uk-charts/https://www.joystiq.com/2013/01/07/fifa-13-storms-back-up-to-first-on-uk-charts/#comments

The new year kicks off with FIFA 13 seated first on the UK all formats sales chart. The game hadn't been in the top spot since that naughty Call of Duty: Black Ops 2showed up, followed by a surprisingly strong showing by Far Cry 3. Blacks Ops 2 and Far Cry 3 currently hold third and second place, respectively.

If the historical pattern holds up, FIFA and Just Dance franchises will show strong in the weeks ahead as the year gears up. Just Dance 4 is currently in seventh.

New games entering the top 40 (thanks to discounts) are Batman: Arkham City - Game of the Year Edition at No. 25 and Saints Row: The Third - The Full Package at 40. Yes, you want to play Saints Row if you've yet to indulge.
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black-ops-2britaincall-of-duty-black-ops-2chart-trackchart-track-weeklyfar-cry-3fifa-13microsoftnintendopcplaystationps3ukwii-uxboxMon, 07 Jan 2013 09:30:00 -050011|20418807https://www.joystiq.com/2012/12/24/black-ops-2-reigns-for-sixth-week-in-uk-to-capture-xmas-no-1-spo/https://www.joystiq.com/2012/12/24/black-ops-2-reigns-for-sixth-week-in-uk-to-capture-xmas-no-1-spo/https://www.joystiq.com/2012/12/24/black-ops-2-reigns-for-sixth-week-in-uk-to-capture-xmas-no-1-spo/#comments

Let's face it, it was going to take a Christmas miracle to knock Call of Duty Black Ops 2 off the festive top spot in the UK charts. Despite a valiant but not quite miraculous effort from Far Cry 3, which saw an 86 percent rise in sales on the back of meaty holiday discounts, the latest CoD ruled the roost once more to become this year's Xmas No 1, as well as the only game to top the UK charts for six weeks in a row in 2012.

That near-doubling of Far Cry 3 sales helped the open-world shooter leap over Hitman: Absolution into second place. Otherwise it's much as you were for the UK's penultimate sales week, with the same collection of top ten games playing a very restrained, possibly hungover version of Musical Chairs.

You can find the UK top ten snoring loudly on the couch after the break.
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britaincall-of-duty-black-ops-2chart-trackchart-track-weeklymicrosoftnintendopcplaystationps3ukwii-uxboxMon, 24 Dec 2012 09:00:00 -050011|20410483https://www.joystiq.com/2012/12/24/ps3-12gb-slides-to-125-at-game-in-uk/https://www.joystiq.com/2012/12/24/ps3-12gb-slides-to-125-at-game-in-uk/https://www.joystiq.com/2012/12/24/ps3-12gb-slides-to-125-at-game-in-uk/#comments

UK retailer GAME is dropping the price of the 12GB PS3 to £125 on the day following Christmas. A GAME representative informs us that price also includes a copy of The Amazing Spiderman movie. The console, regularly priced at £150, is immediately shedding the pounds during the holiday season.

All this pound talk is already making us feel stuffed and the real feasting hasn't even begun.
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assassins-creed-3britaingameplaystationps3ukMon, 24 Dec 2012 07:00:00 -050011|20410511https://www.engadget.com/2012/12/22/uk-offers-long-awaited-copyright-reform-that-sanctions-format-shifting/https://www.engadget.com/2012/12/22/uk-offers-long-awaited-copyright-reform-that-sanctions-format-shifting/https://www.engadget.com/2012/12/22/uk-offers-long-awaited-copyright-reform-that-sanctions-format-shifting/#comments

Believe it or not, it's still illegal in the UK to rip a favorite CD, or even to show copyrighted work in distance education -- both fair use permissions that many North Americans take for granted. Some sense is at last coming around now that the Intellectual Property Office is putting forward copyright reforms that accept a digital reality. The measures explicitly approve private copying for personal use, making it legal to shift formats as long as it's to play purchased content. Many of the reforms also clear up the murkiness surrounding institutional use: analysts, researchers and teachers should have access to copyrighted material over networks, as long as it's for non-commercial purposes. The fair use terms aren't as broadly outlined as they are in the US -- these are exceptions, not general rules -- but they go a long way towards legitimizing what many wanted all along. Or, let's be honest, were already doing.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 has matched Lego Batman 2's 2012 streak of five weeks in the top spot of Chart-Track's UK sales rankings. Black Ops 2 sales were actually up 14 percent last week, so it'll likely make that sixth week from a vantage point, unless FIFA 13 rallies. FIFA games typically get a boost right at Christmas week and after New Year's.

The rest of the UK top ten relatively remained in their same spots as last week, with the exception of Hitman: Absolution, which moved up four spots and into second place. Agent 47 had price promotions in the region to thank for his sudden ascension. The UK top ten can be found after the break.
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britaincall-of-duty-black-ops-2chart-trackchart-track-weeklyhitman-absolutionmicrosoftnintendopcplaystationps3ukwii-uxboxMon, 17 Dec 2012 09:00:00 -050011|20404742https://www.joystiq.com/2012/12/11/uk-video-game-tax-relief-hinges-on-passing-this-cultural-test/https://www.joystiq.com/2012/12/11/uk-video-game-tax-relief-hinges-on-passing-this-cultural-test/https://www.joystiq.com/2012/12/11/uk-video-game-tax-relief-hinges-on-passing-this-cultural-test/#comments

The UK government outlined a "cultural test" that video games developed in the region must meet for the studio to qualify for tax relief, as part of the industry overhaul begun earlier this year. A game must earn 16 points to receive the tax break, with points awarded for such criteria as being "set in the United Kingdom or another EEA state," which includes all countries of the European Union, plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. The studio gets four points if the game stars two of three lead characters "from the United Kingdom or another EEA state or from an undetermined location," or it depicts "a British story."

If at least half of the game's development is completed in the UK, studios can earn three points, while a "qualifying" project leader, script writer, composer, artist, programmer, designer and department head earn one point each. If at least half of the entire team qualifies as a legitimate UK operation, the studio gets another point. The tax code is like a game in itself.

For example, if a studio in the UK (3 points) with all local staff (8 points) creates a game about a time-traveling doctor in a bowtie (4 points) as he journeys around Liverpool (4 points), Hufflepuff wins the House Cup. See? Easy.